A few things before we blessedly leave August behind:
• A columnist (or even a normal person) cannot speak his mind in public and then not expect stuff to come back his way. In fact, it’s rather disappointing when stuff doesn’t come flying back a columnist’s way. But every now and then, the return stuff is just too weird. The other day, I got an email from a woman who told me in no uncertain terms that white people should never criticize Latinos because “they don’t know what it’s like to be a Lattino (sic).”
Yes, she used two t’s, either to emphasize her Latina-osity or to answer the age-old question “¿Quien es mas macho?” She said that people should only criticize (or poke fun) at people who are like themselves. That would limit me to older fat guys, although I’d first have to make sure that they have green eyes lest I leave myself open to another email.
What really got me was the outrage over a joke I made about the Sabino (High School) Teenage Republicans. They’re really nice kids, but come on, People! They’re T-e-e-n-a-g-e R-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n-s. That’s grotesque, in and of itself. And yes, I would find it bizarre (albeit somewhat less so) if there were a group of High School Libertarians or Teenage Democrats.
The group had sponsored a congressional debate in which my late friend, Dave Sitton, had participated. Dave and I had grown up about 12 miles (and a couple years) apart in the San Fernando Valley. But while I attended Ghetto Tech, Dave went to the upscale Catholic school, Our Lady of the Rich White Kids. When he and I went to lunch later that week (after the debate), I asked him whether they had had a Young Republicans group at his high school.
He laughed and said, “When I was growing up, it was cars and sports, girls and the beach. Politics came later.”
He told me that he could argue for hours about the makeup of the Dodgers’ pitching rotation; that was important to him at the time.
I know Lori Oien, one of the people who got upset. She’s a nice person who is concerned about, and active in, her community. Plus, she does a good job of wrangling those northeast-side teenage political mavericks. However, she has to know that it doesn’t matter how old (or young) a person is, if they stand up and say, “Hey, look at me; I’m different,” they can’t get all huffy if somebody points them out and says, “Look at that guy; he’s different.”
So, while most high-school kids are wondering whether Robin Thicke and Pharrell should be sued because “Blurred Lines” sounds an awful lot like the Marvin Gaye classic “Got To Give It Up,” some kids at Sabino are debating the relative merits of the positions taken by right-wing economic gods Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek.
(For the uninitiated, von Mises believed that all poor people should be rounded up and killed, with their bodies chopped up into little pieces and used in cattle feed. That position has since been discredited because we now know that the use of animal byproducts in such feed can lead to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Meanwhile, while Hayek also believed that the poor should be rounded up and killed, he felt the bodies could be put to more constructive use, like in the formation of speed bumps and such.)
Or maybe it was the other way around. I should ask Rand Paul Ryan (who is now one creature). He would know.
Finally, if any of the Teenage Republicans were truly offended … well, you’d better get used to it, because if you insist on remaining Republican, you’re going to invite all sorts of dookie to be dumped on you in the coming decades. It’s almost all in fun and it’s 100 percent American, so relax.
• A brief farewell to writer Elmore Leonard, who died last week at age 87. His gritty (and often hilarious) crime novels were almost exclusively action and dialogue, to which he explained that he “just left out the parts people didn’t read, anyway.” His legacy lives on in the brilliant TV series, Justified. He’ll be missed.
• There’s a great picture in last week’s Time magazine. (Yes, I still subscribe to—and read—magazines.) It was part of a look back at the March on Washington, which took place 50 years ago this week. As I mentioned here a few weeks ago, in the front row of the marchers was Charlton Heston, along with Harry Belafonte. In the second row was a young (and ridiculously handsome) James Garner, with Diahann Carroll and Paul Newman. Then came Tony Franciosa and Marlon Brando.
I first saw that picture as a little kid and my Italian-American mother wanted to know why they put the Italians in the third row. As Richard Pryor would say, “That’s the politics, baby.”
• Finally, as the fringe-dwellers continue to use talk of impeaching President Obama to pull the Republican Party closer and closer to the edge (I’m betting that a substantial number of Republicans believe that the world does have an edge), a recent survey shows that 29 percent of Republicans in Louisiana blame President Obama for the slow initial response to Hurricane Katrina, even though it happened more than three years before Obama was first elected.
Sadly, that’s the politics of today.
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2013.
I was a teen republican ban in 1972. I was recruited by one of my teachers. She got me involved in working on a political campaign…some doofus named Dusenberry was running for state senate. I worked my ass off, he got elected. I left the country in military uniform. When I got back, I was told that he had to resign in disgrace because he was caught naked in a motel room between Tucson and Phoenix. His story was that he picked up a couple of hitch hikers and decided to stop and “freshen up”. While he was in the shower, they took his clothes, wallet and car. I’m a democrat now.
Regarding Elmore Leonard: he was a gifted and prolific author of westerns as well as crime novels. Hombre, Valdez is Coming, 3:10 to Yuma were some of his best. His westerns, which often dealt with race and other social issues, were set primarily in southeastern Arizona. Peace to his ashes.
You are not the only one who reads magazines. While today’s crop seems to be mostly entertainment related, there was once a time when magazines told you how to build and repair things.
I recently picked up a huge box of electronics magazines from the 50’s and they brought back great memories of how most of the articles were teaching us how to think logically. Things like if you do this, then this action should occur, etc.
Even the “Popular” magazines of the time had articles on car repair and even a couple of kids who were electronics whiz kids, sort of like the “geeks” of today I suppose.
Hey, remember when the word “geek” referred to someone strange as in a circus character?
It was those magazines that started me on a career in electronics, then IT, and finally teaching. All jobs that require critical thinking and attention to detail. And I suppose to some extent, you can call me a computer geek. My wife does when she needs something fixed!
I wonder if the current generation will look back in 30 years on that “killer app” with the same fondness many of us hold for the printed page?
AGAIN Tom you missed the point, your eulogy to Dave Sitton went in the wrong direction. If you would have just stuck to the kind words that Dave Sitton deserved, it wouldn’t have needed a second week to defend it.
You have the “bully pulpit” and you certainly take advantage of it. I’m not really sure whether you were trying to be coy, witty or funny, unfortunately you missed the mark.
You should stick with your boasting about your Girl’s Basketball glory days or your rants about Charter Schools. To take on a couple of kids in high school who have beliefs and convictions is pretty rank. You don’t know those kids or how they feel about issues.
“although I’d first have to make sure that they have green eyes”
“hich my late friend, Dave Sitton, had participated. Dave and I had grown up about 12 miles (and a couple years) apart in the San Fernando Valley. But while I attended Ghetto Tech,”
“I know Lori Oien,”
(For the uninitiated, von Mises believed that all poor people should be rounded up and killed, with their bodies chopped up into little pieces and used in cattle feed. That position has since been discredited because we now know that the use of animal byproducts in such feed can lead to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Meanwhile, while Hayek also believed that the poor should be rounded up and killed, he felt the bodies could be put to more constructive use, like in the formation of speed bumps and such.) – “I know so much”
“Yes, I still subscribe to—and read—magazines.”
“my Italian-American mother” – “I’m cool, I’m Italian”
More self serving braggadocios nonsense from our buddy Tom. I’ll give him this, despite my acrimony for him, I read his stuff every week.
” Pulitzer Tommy’s” column would almost be amusing if it wasn’t so pathetic. In a way you have to feel sorry for him. A grown man and this is what he does to make a living. Rather sad, really. Face it Tommy, you’re a loser. With a capital l.
Dearest Tom,
You say, “They’re T-e-e-n-a-g-e R-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n-s. That’s grotesque, in and of itself. And yes, I would find it bizarre (albeit somewhat less so) if there were a group of High School Libertarians or Teenage Democrats.”
Bizzare and grotesque because we actually have teenagers who care about issues more important than Robin Thicke’s suspected tune-lifting? And I can bet they haven’t heard about Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, either.
As you probably know, we have an uncomfortable number of young people who earn an epithet usually reserved for adults: Low Information Voter. These people will be at the polls sooner than we think. Pray tell, which would you rather have pulling the lever: the kid who knows what we’re about to do in Syria (or not), or the one still twittering about Miley Cyrus’ latest anatomically incorrect display?
Did you stop to think about how political involvement in high school — no matter whether it’s Republican, Democrat or Libertarian — is a mark of good citizenship? So you don’t agree with their political leanings. Fine. Good. But trying to lump them in with political radicals without even knowing the facts — or simply not caring about the facts to take a cheap shot — smacks of another, more undesirable high school activity: bullying. Or cyberbullying, if you’re reading this online.
My discouragement heightens when I read, “You’d better get used to it, because if you insist on remaining Republican, you’re going to invite all sorts of dookie to be dumped on you in the coming decades. It’s almost all in fun and it’s 100 percent American, so relax.”
In other words, take it and smile, because hatin’ is what we do here in America. Sadly, I can’t dispute that. Never have so many people in seats of power and influence derived such pleasure from ridiculing, degrading, insulting, demeaning, threatening, and dehumanizing their political opponents.
And we wonder why it’s so hard to get quality people to run for office here in the U.S.A.
Your Humble Servant,
Christopher
Way to go Tom. Some youngsters care about politics as much as you but are rooting for the crips instead of the bloods so you feel the need to attack them and show them how clever you are. Perfect example of the difference between intelligence and wisdom.
In my distant youth I was a long haired antiwar protesting teenager which put me closer to being a demo than a repubo. Now that the demos (under Alfred E Obama) have usurped the repubos politics it’s confusing for the repubos because they’ve lost their identity and confusing for me now that the demos are the ones firing drone missiles into homes halfway around the world. I’d feel a little better if this country responded to the genocide in Syria by deciding it was time to stop our own genocide.
In the meantime go ahead and pick on the kids – it’s better than killing them I suppose.
When I was in high school, the Young Republicans were there because their parents had told them to be there. Mostly we debated that Republicans were better than Democrats (and it was pretty one-sided). Whatever ‘better’ means in this context. When I got to College, and learned to think for myself, I became an Independent.
As for the coyness, wittiness, or funniness of Danehy, I read him because I learn something every week. His job is not to write something I agree with (he never clears his piece with me), but to make me think. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don’t, but I always learn something. Some of the comments above tell me that some of his readers waste their time.
Thomasito, when you are quite finished boosting your middle aged Corporate touristas over there at the Hotel Congress Bar, with your cynical “NPR Mom” anti bullying improvisations, hand on the knee and whoah my bad, did-I-do-that comedy of contrition… please, please, Sugarplum, do be sure to bring back that bag of ice for the blendy blendy. My margarita has stopped making puddles on the countertop I am all out of cigs, the dog needs walking (deperately) and I cannot seem to find my sunglasses, anywhere, and outside … hmmm outside the Monsoon looks, … well it almost looks … over ~ guess its time to switch back to beer. Nix the ice after all, just grab us a six and come home.
Love, Snork